Chương 307: Ch297- Separation

Cassian dropped into the armchair, hands pressed together as though he were bracing for the next blow. Bathsheda paced behind him. The others formed a loose ring round them, Flamels, Ji, Dumbledore, Goshawk, Bagshot, Coriolanus, Sabine. All frowning, though each for their own reason. The Veil, the leash, Marauder's offer, Cassian had barely finished laying it out before the room fell quiet enough to hear dust shift. Nicolas broke it first.

"The Veil cannot be moved. It should not be moved." Cassian clapped.

"Excellent. Tell Marauder that. He'll definitely listen." Perenelle frowned.

"He asked you to fetch the leash because he trusts the face you showed him."

"Or," Cassian said, "because he doesn't trust the face I showed him and wants to see where we run with the information." Bathsheda stopped pacing.

"You think your cover is blown." He lifted both hands.

"I'm saying it's on the table. Man's clever. Annoyingly so. He might've clocked something I missed."

"I doubt you were made," Sabine said. She crossed her arms.

"If he'd suspected you, you wouldn't be sitting here. He'd have slit your throat mid-sentence and used your corpse as a coat rack." Coriolanus added, "Your disguise held in a room full of Dark warlords. They didn't blink." Cassian rubbed his face.

"Yes, the identity held. I'm talking intention. What if he tossed the Veil assignment at me not because I'm useful, but because he expects us to snatch it first? Make it easier for him to follow the trail later." Goshawk's mouth pinched.

"That's possible." Dumbledore shook his head.

"He couldn't know you're working with us. How could he?" Cassian arched a brow.

"Headmaster, the man smiles like he's reading everyone's diary at once. Don't bet on him being oblivious." Bathsheda stepped to the side of his chair.

"Then slow down. What part feels wrong?" Cassian leaned back, tipping his head to look up at her.

"He doesn't want to step foot in Britain while the Keepers are circling. He named the Ministry outright, knowing I'd repeat it here. Either he trusts me completely, unlikely, or he wants us interacting with the Veil so he gets a free read on where it goes." Sabine tilted her head.

"Unless he genuinely wants the object."

"Oh, he does," Cassian said.

"He wants the leash more than Voldemort wants therapy. But whether he expects us to move it for him? That's what I can't pin." Perenelle murmured, "You believe he's anticipating our every move." Cassian spread his hands.

"He enjoys puzzles. And I walked in with a shiny new reputation for killing Kaed Thorn. In his mind, that makes me either an ally or a threat. Either way, he'll want to see what I do next." Master Ji folded his sleeves.

"Then the question is simple. Do we move the Veil or leave it?"

"That's the problem," Cassian said.

"Leave it, and the Ministry remains the only lock he can break, that might tempt him to force his way in. Move it, and we might hand him exactly what he wants." Bagshot wrung her hands.

"The Veil is anchored. Old magic. Older than the Ministry itself. Removing it could destabilise the entire Ministry." Coriolanus leaned in.

"Say he's expecting us to shift it. He's still banking on us being able to. Can we?" Nicolas exhaled slowly.

"Theoretically, yes. Practically... still yes." Bathsheda tapped her fingers against the back of Cassian's chair.

"Could we hide it instead of moving it? Cloak the anchor from outside detection?" Cassian winced.

"Maybe. If we get absurdly lucky. The Veil responds to presence, not magic. It's like trying to stuff a banshee into a broom cupboard and hoping no one hears it sobbing." Sabine smirked.

"Charming imagery." Cassian pointed at her without looking.

"I bring colour to the room." Dumbledore folded his hands behind his back.

"Your every move will serve into his game."

"True," Cassian said.

"All he needs is behaviour. If I run back to him empty-handed, he'll expect hesitation. If we try grabbing the Veil, he'll expect that too. He's playing both sides of the bridge." Goshawk muttered, "Then he's boxed us."

"No." Cassian shook his head.

"He thinks he has. There's wiggle room if we don't run down either path he expects." Dumbledore's eyes sharpened.

"Meaning?" Cassian lifted a hand, counting off.

"Option one, we don't move the Veil. We reinforce the Ministry instead. Make it harder for him and anyone he sends. Hide our work under standard upgrades." Perenelle hummed.

"Subtle." Sabine looked intrigued.

"And risky. The Ministry's wards are a nest."

"Option two," Cassian continued, "we fake movement. Pull out a decoy. Something that reads old and powerful from far enough away. Something that'll lure him to the wrong site." Coriolanus raised a brow.

"You want to bait a man trying to wake a world-ender." Cassian shrugged.

"I baited Voldemort with a snake. We work with what we've got." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Bathsheda pressed her lips together.

"And option three?" Cassian hesitated. They all watched him.

"We move the Veil," he said slowly, "but not where he expects. And not with the method he thinks we'll use. We wrap it in wards and bury it so deep that even we struggle to find it again." Dumbledore looked troubled.

"That invites consequences." Cassian gave a dry little laugh.

"Sadly, the consequences started twelve steps before I arrived." Master Ji stepped in.

"Before we chase any path, we must answer Cassian's question. Could Marauder know Bathael is Cassian?" Everyone turned to the armchair. Cassian pinched the bridge of his nose.

"He shouldn't. There wasn't a single magical tell. No cracks in the disguise. No slip in the persona. No one watching my thoughts. But he watched me. Constantly. And every time he laughed, it felt like he knew more than he let on." A small wave of frustration swept the room. Goshawk clicked her tongue.

"We're dancing round guesses. We need facts."

"Agreed," Nicolas said.

"First, Marauder wants the leash. Second, he cannot get it himself. Third, he believes Cassian can." Bagshot nodded faintly.

"Which means he'll watch whichever route Cassian follows."

"Exactly," Cassian said.

"We pick wrong, we gift-wrap a key to an apocalypse. We pick right, we stall him. Maybe even mislead him." Sabine muttered, "So you can return to teaching? Look at you." Cassian groaned into his hands.

"I miss classes. I miss essays. I miss telling children they've mislabelled their homeworks. Is that too much to ask?" Bathsheda squeezed his shoulder.

"Unfortunately, yes." Coriolanus straightened.

"We need two plans. One for the Ministry. One for Marauder." Nicolas shook his head.

"Anything we touch in the Ministry will tip Marauder off. Strengthen the wards, shift a guard rota, sneeze too loudly, he'll decide Bathael can't be trusted. Even if Cassian's cover's intact, any sudden movement from us gives him a conclusion to run with." The circle nodded grimly. Bathsheda lifted her chin.

"Or... he actually trusts 'Bathael' with the job. He pushed Voldemort to steal it last year. Maybe he still thinks it's grab-and-go." Cassian hummed.

"Wouldn't be the first time he underestimated a government building." Ji tapped his foot, unimpressed.

"I say we destroy the Veil." Sabine hummed in agreement.

"Works for me. If it's the leash to his monster, better that no one touches it again." Goshawk gave a nod.

"It seems to be the cleanest option on the board." Bagshot shook her head before they could build momentum.

"You're forgetting who you're dealing with. The Covenant wants destruction, yes, but for now, it's controlled destruction. They'd rather leash a beast than unleash one they can't steer. As it is, we have the chance to control the monster if they truly unleash it. Once that leash is gone, destruction serves them. If we destroy the Veil outright, we could do them a favour. Destroy the last thing holding them back." Cassian went still. Something cold and fast slid through his thoughts. A historian's instinct.

Click that connected everything. Two things that shouldn't sit in the same room suddenly sitting very comfortably. Veil of Death. A curtain that split a soul from its body. A boundary. A wedge. His pulse thudded hard in his skull. Separation. He whispered it in his head again because the word itself wouldn't leave him alone. Separation. The creature. The Crown of Evil. Body sealed in Greece. Soul sealed in Yucatan. Two halves that never connected. Two halves that stayed apart. Because something forced them apart.

A boundary. A wedge. A Veil. He gasped for air, as the thought settled in his chest.

"Oh, you clever bastard," he murmured. Bathsheda turned toward him.

"Cassian?" He pushed a hand through his hair, eyes fixed on nothing, mind sprinting.

"He doesn't want me to steal it," Cassian said, laughing incredulously.

"He doesn't care if I can't. He doesn't even need us to move it." Every face turned his way.

"He wants us to panic," Cassian said.

"He wants us to consider destroying it." Goshawk frowned.

"Why would destroying a leash help him?"

"Because it might not be a leash," Cassian said.

"It might be the reason the creature stayed split in the first place." Silence tightened the chamber. Bathsheda whispered, too quiet.

"Are you saying... the Veil is what's keeping the soul and body apart?" Cassian nodded.

"If the Veil forced the original separation, if its nature is to divide, then removing it, or breaking it, could undo that division." Dumbledore looked uncertain. He rubbed his beard.

"Then answer me this, Cassian. The creature was divided thousands of years ago. The Veil has stood in one place for centuries. Why has proximity not already undone the separation?" Cassian didn't blink.

"Because it isn't proximity. It's integrity."

"Meaning?"

"The Veil doesn't pull things apart like a magnet. It enforces the rule that they must remain apart. Destroy it, and you remove the law." Nicolas's face shifted, the kind of expression that meant he'd caught up and didn't like where he'd landed.

"You believe destroying the Veil would allow the creature to reunite," he said. Cassian held his gaze.

"Yes. Exactly that." He sat back, eyes narrowing at the floor.

"If the Veil is the wedge, then its destruction is the release." His hand trembled. They had nearly done it. Nearly handed the world back its executioner.

"That's why he dangled the Ministry in front of me. Not to fetch the Veil, to point our noses at it. To make us worry. To make us argue. To make one of us suggest burning it." Ji let out a heavy breath.

"And if we had..." Cassian spread his hands.

"We'd do his work for him." Bathsheda clenched her hands.

"So the Veil isn't a leash."

"Not a leash," Cassian said.

"A seal." Coriolanus blew out a breath.

"If that's true, then destroying it would be catastrophic." Goshawk muttered, "It would be the equivalent of pulling the last nail out of a coffin lid." Dumbledore's brow lifted.

"Cassian... you're drawing a line between an ancient ritual in two continents and a Ministry artefact we barely understand. Are you certain the connection isn't a coincidence?" Cassian let out a huff.

"If it were a coincidence, I'd be thrilled. Sadly, the universe hates me." Dumbledore leaned forward.

"Walk us through it again. Slowly. Because at the moment it sounds like you're suggesting the Veil is holding back an entity sealed thousands of years before the Department of Mysteries existed."

"Gladly," Cassian said.

"Because that's exactly what I'm suggesting." Bagshot frowned.

"I'd wager my remaining few years the artefact is tied to something predating written magic."

"It's not the age that matters," Cassian said.

"It's the function. Every culture that touched it recorded the same pattern... separation. Division." Pass through Death's Gate and the body falls behind. The soul drifts on, weightless, seeking no anchor. Where flesh is absent, memory thins to thread. And only in separation does truth reveal its shape. He shook his head.

"I had no idea this was about the Veil before. But it fits." A few faces shifted, surprise, disbelief, unease. They all knew the lines. Everyone did. A village song, hummed in pubs and woven into cradle-rhymes. Supposedly sung since Merlin's day, though no one ever questioned why it lingered. Bathsheda's gaze flicked round the circle.

"You're telling me that thing's been hiding in a children's song?" No one answered straight away. Because the thought hit all of them at the same time. If the lyrics were about the Veil... If people had been repeating it for centuries... If they'd sung it without knowing... Then the warning had been in their mouths all along. Coriolanus sat on the couch, rubbing his face.

"Assuming that's true, it still doesn't prove destroying the Veil would reunite the halves."

"No," Cassian agreed.

"But it gives us the first working theory that isn't nonsense. And if there's even a chance it's right? Smashing the Veil becomes the stupidest idea we've ever had in this room." Bathsheda sat next to him. He took her hand, could feel her unease.

"If this is true, then Marauder's entire plan hinges on freeing that creature from its split state." Cassian leaned into her.

"And the moment those two halves meet, we lose the world's bargaining chip." The circle fell quiet. Bathsheda's voice broke the silence.

"Cassian... what happens if the Veil is gone?"

"Everything comes together." He paused.

"And then everything else comes apart."